Kashi Vishwanath Temple

It is also known as the golden temple is the most important temple in Varanasi. It is one of twelve (Jyotirlingas) most important temples of Shiva in India. Vishwanath means Lord of the universe and Kashi is the ancient name of Varanasi so the temple is called Kashi Vishwanath Temple.

This temple was destroyed and reconstructed several times. The last structure was demolished by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and constructed a Mosque on its site. The current temple was built by Maharani Ahilya Bai Holkar of Indore in 1780. Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1835 donated around 820 kg Gold for flaming Temple’s Dome.

Things to do

Sugam Darshan= 300/ pp (without queue)

Sparsh Darshan= 04am-05am & 04-05pm.

Rudrabhishek= 450/ per couple + Milk

Corridor visit, Nandi, Gyanwaapi koop, Ganesh ji, Parwati ji & Annapurna ji.

History

The original Vishwanath temple was destroyed by the army of Iltutmish in 1194 CE when he defeated the king of Kannauj as a commander of Mohamed Gauri. The temple was rebuilt by a Gujarati merchant during the reign of Delhi’s Sultan Iltutmis (1211–1266 CE).

It was demolished again during the rule of either Hussein Shah Shargi (1447–1458) or Sikander Lodhi (1489–1517). Raja Man Singh built the temple during Akbar’s rule, but some Hindus boycotted it as he had let the Mughals marry within his family. The father of Raja Todar Mal re-built the temple with Akbar’s funding at its original site in 1585.

In 1669 CE, Emperor Aurangzeb destroyed the temple and made the Gyanvapi Mosque in its place. The remains of the temple can be seen in the foundation of the columns and at the rear part of the mosque.

Legend

According to the Shiv Puran, once Brahma (the Hindu God of creation) and Vishnu (the Hindu God of Preservation) had an argument about who was supreme. To test them, Shiva crossed the three worlds as a huge endless pillar of light, the jyotirlinga. To judge who was mightier Vishnu took the form of Varaha and sought out the bottom while Brahma took the form of a Swan to fly to the pillar’s top.

Brahma lied that he had found out the end, offering a katuki flower as a witness. Vishnu modestly accepted to being unable to find the bottom. Shiva then took the form of the wrathful Bhairava and cut off Brahma’s lying fifth head, and cursed Brahma that he would not be worshipped. Vishnu for his honesty would be worshipped as equal to Shiva with his own temples for all eternity.

The jyotirlinga

It is an ancient axis symbol representing the supreme formless (nirguna) reality at the core of creation, out of which the form (saguna) of Shiva appears. The jyotirlinga shrines, thus are places where Shiva appeared as a fiery column of light. There are 64 forms of Shiva, not to be confused with Jyotirlingas. Each of the twelve jyotirlinga sites takes the name of the presiding deity – each considered different manifestation of Shiva.